Launching a new projet is something extremely important. A voting bar set at 50% is something I find plain wrong.
I agree. I'd rather see the bar at around 20% (with at least 10 people voting in favor). I do see the argument for majority, though, and in this particular case it didn't really matter.
I know that in any decision the global community will adopt, there will be some happy and some unhappy people, and this is also why, though we must sometimes rely on voting procedure because of community size, I see voting as a bad choice.
I agree with this, too. I think having a survey is acceptable, in order to gauge opinion on the matter, but ultimately the decision of whether or not to go into a new project should be a board decision.
And this in particular as some of those opposing the creation believe this project, as is, could hurt the project overall.
That's really why I see it as a Board issue. I think it's pretty much impossible that Wikinews is going to hurt the foundation, but that's an argument that should be considered on its merits. If it comes down to a vote, that's why we've elected a Board of Directors, to make the final decision on broad and important issues like the creation of a new project (and when I say a new project I don't consider languages to fall under this unless they seriously duplicate another language, such as simple English).
In some ways this whole issue is an example of Wikipedia being a victim of its own success. I say "Wikipedia" intentionally, because were there no foundation there would be about zero reason not to start a project like this. But we do have a foundation, and just like we're not requiring a vote and consensus every time the foundation spends money on a new server, we shouldn't require a vote and consensus every time the foundation starts a new project.
The foundation doesn't run on consensus. The bylaws don't require the Board to make decisions by consensus, and the Board isn't elected by consensus. In fact, 4/5 of the Board (all but Angela) was installed without even a *majority* support, though it is nearly certain that Jimmy Wales would have received a consensus support.
Anthony